newyorklondon

That's great to hear, thank you!

flyerCO

Since you held in arms it's ok. What isn't allowed is carseat use during taxi, takeoff, and landing. The brain can sustain forces front to back much better than side to side. This is why a side impact is usually more dangerous. There's no space for the brain to move side to side. Even front to back there's not a lot. However there is enough to lessen injury.

londonsmiler

To clarify, we had no car seat on those trips but the boy was simply laid in the seat when appropriate.

However, it's an interesting comment to me as for short hops (eg LON-NYC) we have sometimes used AA's main cabin extra using a car seat and had him secured in that for take-off and landing. I had assumed this was the safer route than holding as the car seat (rear facing) and restraints would be designed to deal with a variety of movements as auto accidents may be side impact as well as head on?

Is what you are saying Delta policy? There seems to be a general disparity of opinion between US and European carriers on the securing point, where for example BA will give extender belts to secure lap infants whereas several US carriers have told us that the baby is safest held with no restraint.

Sadly, I do find conflict in safety opinions very interesting.

flyerCO

MCE seats are forward facing (I don't mean the carseat, but the actual seat). Thus no issue installing a carseat.

The belt extender with loop issue is country specific. US ,and others don't allow use due to fact adult can crush the child. Basically child acts as a force absorber . Force is transferred from adult to child.

newyorklondon

In my experience South Africa is the same as the US, which creates an interesting intra-airline discrepancy with regard to BA. The UK-based BA operation uses the extender, but the SA-based, Comair-operated BA operation doesn't.

newyorklondon

And also strangely comforting - I'm guessing there isn't a significant discrepancy between US and UK/EU infant injuries/incidents in aircrafts.

Schuhfly

Depending on how old your child is, there is always a skycot option. We did that for my son when he was a little over one and it worked well for us. He was infant in arms and then slept in the skycot most of the time. They have weight and height limits and you have to call Delta to reserve it.

Your child does not have to be in a car seat or in a CARES harness. I don’t think the CARES harness will work with the D1 seats either.

Bicoastal Local

I'm confused, and would appreciate any additional information. If it's the angle that's an issue, why is the 767 on the prohibited list, but not the 757?
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MSPeconomist

Do you mean the 777? D1 seats on the 757 have angles that are barely noticeable.

pvn

Wait, you booked an extra seat as a way to avoid the lap child fee? I guess that's one way to beat the system.

Bicoastal Local

I've only flown D1 on the 757 and 767, so the 757 is what I think of when I think "angled".

I guess what I'm REALLY looking for is a link that explains the restrictions, so that I can point to it in case an FA or GA won't let us into 767 D1 with the infant seat. Pre-baby, most of our D1 flights have been transcons, and most have those have been on 767s (IME, more likely to have Z-fare and upgrade availability than the 757).

SFTNYC

It's been a while since I've been on the lie-flat 757, but I'm on the 767's fairly often and those definitely have airbag seat belts in all business class seats. A car seat cannot be used in a seat with an airbag seat belt. There may be other reasons that a car seat cannot be used, as others have pointed to above (angle of seat on the A330, for example), even though an airbag may not be present.

I believe this was the link. Look at "Infant and Child Seating"
https://www.delta.com/content/www/en.../children.html

newyorklondon

Ha! Yes, on some airlines the only way to add an infant-in-arms is as a cash fare, based on 10% of the adult fare plus taxes/fees, even if the infant is being added to a reward redemption. I believe that is the case for DL. Other airlines might have a fixed mileage rate (say, 5,000), or 10% of adult mileage, plus taxes/fees. VS is the former, for example, BA is the latter. But DL - I think - is cash only.

So if you're after a redemption for a seat in a premium cabin on a long-haul, and have a lot of miles in the bank, it's going to be significantly cheaper to add an entirely new seat for the infant, than pay the infant-in-arms fee.

For example: ANA tried to charge me a $1,400 infant-in-arms fee on an SFO-NRT business class return when I tried to add my eight-month old son to our reward redemption (bought using VS miles). Instead, for 90k miles and $20 in taxes/fees, he could have his own seat. I hope he enjoys the champagne (joke).

pvn

$1400 sounds like someone made a mistake quoting the fee, but in any case, a lot of people would value 90k miles more than $1400.

newyorklondon

The fee is about right, alas ($1,800 for F) - it's based on 10% of a full cash basis fare. It's one of the nastier sides of award redemptions with an infant. Some airlines have a 10% of adult fare paid policy, which would bring the fee down considerably if attached to an adult cash booking, but not necessarily if attached to an adult reward redemption, where it seems the airlines have a lot of leeway.

I just did a brief search through the DL board on FT, and there are some similarly-priced horror stories.

Yeah, of course, I'm sure people value miles differently. We have a stupid amount of miles, so it was a no brainer.

And I simply objected to be charged $1,400 to carry my own son on my lap!